The Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, has charged coordinators and officials responsible for the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI) deliverables to continue taking full ownership of their assignments, sustain the momentum of ongoing reforms and ensure that outstanding commitments are translated into measurable results across Nigeria’s education sector.
He gave the charge on Friday at the Ministerial Deliverables Meeting on NESRI in Abuja, where officials conducted a six-month review of progress since the last NESRI retreat held in February and agreed on concrete actions to strengthen the implementation of the education reform agenda.
The Minister’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Mr Ikharo Attah, said the meeting focused on four key areas: verification of completed deliverables, review of pending tasks and the bottlenecks delaying them, establishment of timelines for outstanding deliverables, and consideration of additional deliverables and emerging priorities.
According to the statement, officials examined assignments reported as completed to determine whether they had achieved their full scope and could genuinely be closed out, noting that the exercise was designed to ensure that deliverables are not regarded as completed merely because activities have commenced or partial milestones have been achieved.
The meeting also scrutinised outstanding tasks, with programme coordinators and responsible officials required to identify the specific bottlenecks preventing completion and determine practical measures for resolving them.
To strengthen accountability, realistic completion timelines were established for outstanding deliverables, with the officials responsible for each assignment expected to take ownership of implementation and remain accountable for agreed targets.
The meeting further provided an opportunity to consider additional deliverables and emerging priorities requiring the Ministry’s attention as it continues to implement reforms under NESRI.
Speaking at the meeting, Dr Alausa said the review was not about celebrating achievements but about making an honest assessment of what had been accomplished, what remained outstanding and what needed to be done to complete the work already started.
“Today is not about celebrating what we have done and going home. It is about looking at what we have done, what remains to be done and how we can finish what we have started,” he said.
The Minister commended officials for their individual and collective efforts in advancing the education sector renewal agenda, noting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had demonstrated a strong political commitment to education and continued to provide the support required to drive reforms aimed at improving access, quality and relevance across the education system.
He said the mandate given to him and the Honourable Minister of State for Education was clear: to do everything possible to ensure that every Nigerian child has access to quality education that provides the knowledge, skills and opportunities needed to succeed.
Dr Alausa, however, cautioned officials against becoming complacent about the progress already recorded, stressing that every achievement must create momentum for the next stage of implementation.
He said the NESRI implementation agenda encompasses critical areas of education, including Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), addressing the out-of-school children challenge, girl-child education, quality assurance, data and digitalisation, among other priority areas.
The Minister stressed that the ultimate test of the Ministry’s performance would not be the number of programmes launched, meetings held or activities undertaken, but the tangible improvements Nigerians experience in schools and across the education system.
He therefore urged programme coordinators, directors and other officials to strengthen collaboration, maintain clear ownership of their respective deliverables and remain focused on measurable outcomes.
Dr Alausa assured Nigerians that the Ministry would remain relentless in implementing the President’s education agenda, sustaining reforms already underway and responding to emerging challenges, with the ultimate objective of building an education system that gives every Nigerian child a genuine opportunity to learn, acquire relevant skills and fulfil their potential.
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